Kim is a daughter, a sister, a mother, a friend. She is a member or our community, a Kolbe's Korner parent, a parishioner at St. Max's. Unfortunately, Kim also happens to be a Stage-4 lung cancer patient, battling a life-threatening disease with a grim prognosis. But Kim is a fighter, and with the support of her friends, family and community, she has a chance to beat the odds and become something else: a survivor.
As a single mother, Kim has already faced numerous obstacles and challenges, and has always done so with grace. To better provide for her son, Christian, Kim moved her family out of state for a job opportunity earlier this year. Once settled in her new life, she was dealt the blow that changed everything: she had advanced metastasized lung cancer, and the doctors gave her only months to live. Having never smoked, Kim was shocked and devastated to find out there was a tumor in her lung that might take her life.
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Determined to somehow recover and continue to raise her son, Kim sough out numerous second opinions, but kept hearing the same news - get your things in order, and prepare for the end. Almost out of hope, Kim was miraculously accepted into a new program at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. There, doctors told Kim that if they were able to shrink her tumor with a new type of chemotherapy, they could surgically remove the affected part of her lung and put her into remission. But first, they told her, she needed to leave her job and security behind and move back home.
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Armed with new hope and a fervent will to see her son grow up, Kim has come back home for treatment. However, leaving her job and insurance behind has left her unable to handle alone the financial burden of the treatment that is her last chance at survival.
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To assist Kim during the crisis, and to ultimately prepare a secure future for Christian should Kim lose her battle, Kim's circle of support has organized several fundraisers for her family.
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Faith CAN move mountains, but it does nothing to shrink the mountains of medical expenses piling up for this family. Please open your heart and give what you can, for in this case, it is in giving that we receive the most precious of all gifts - life.
